Tonight, the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks will meet for the first time in the 2026-27 regular season. The Avalanche come in on a two-game winning streak after victories over the New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames last week. Conversely, the Blackhawks are on a two-game losing streak with losses to the Red Wings and Bruins. Will the Hawks buck the trend, or will the Avalanche stack another win, this time a divisional one?
Colorado Avalanche: 8-5-1
The Opponent: Chicago Blackhawks (4-9-1)
Time: 6:00 p.m. MT
Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, ESPN+ (0ut-of-market)
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche got back to a relatively healthy lineup against the New Jersey Devils, but it lasted about 2 periods as defender Josh Manson struggled to leave the ice, and he was later announced as missing at least 8 weeks with a lower-body injury. Colorado has recalled Keaton Middleton from the Colorado Eagles, but Evan Rawal reports it’s strictly to have an extra defender for the back-to-back.
Colorado has looked better since Nic Roy returned to the lineup, as his arrival has created a more balanced forward group. Moreover, the first power-play unit scored last time out on a nice shot from Martin Necas. The goal came with Necas inhabiting the flank that we are used to seeing MacKinnon on. Let’s see whether his staying on that dot is a focused approach or a one-off.
This is a game the Colorado Avalanche should win (on paper), so it will be interesting to see how they come out, as the Avalanche have struggled to start on time, especially in road contests.
Artturi Lehkonen’s 11 goals in 14 games put him on pace for 60+ goals this season. Obviously, the chances of that happening are slim to none, but it’s reasonable to track whether he reaches 30 goals for the first time in his pro career, and he’s on a torrid pace. Speaking of 30-goal seasons, Gabe Landeskog is also on track toward the third of his 13-year career.
Projected Lineup:
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Nicolas Roy
Jaden Schwartz — Nazem Kadri — T.J. Hughes
Logan O’Connor — Parker Kelly — Fedor Svechkov
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Brent Burns — Sam Malinski
Brett Kulak — Noah Juulsen
Note: Tonight’s lineup is still hard to pin down. The Avs sent Gavin Brindley back to the AHL after the Calgary game, and Logan O’Connor out for personal reasons. It’s unclear if LOC made the trip, as he’s still listed as day-to-day with no word otherwise.
Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago will be without former Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram tonight, so he will miss out on rocking the new Hometown Remix kits officially announced this morning. Chicago’s is all green, and I know the history and all, but to me it just looks like a practice jersey.
It looked like the addition of Byram, accompanied by the existence of Connor Bedard and the Patrick Kane reunion, might be enough to get Chicago back to being a playoff team, but with Byram unavailable for most of October and Bedard missing the first six games of the season, they haven’t been able to garner any early-season returns.
The Hawks felt like their last game was their best performance, that being the OTL to the Boston Bruins, so perhaps they are building toward something now that Bedard is back. The first overall pick in 2023 had a goal and an assist against the B’s and will have a tough test tonight against Colorado.
Projected Lineup:
Roman Kantserov — Connor Bedard — Ryan Donato
Tyler Bertuzzi — Anton Frondell — Andrew Mangiapane
Oliver Moore — Frank Nazar — Patrick Kane
Cole Smith — Ryan Greene — Teuvo Teravainen
Alex Vlasic — Ian Cole
Wyatt Kaiser — Artyom Levshunov
Ethan Del Mastro — Sam Rinzel
Goaltenders
It’s looking like Mackenzie Blackwood vs. Spencer Knight, but only Spencer’s start has been officially confirmed. With Colorado on a back-to-back, the divisional game feels more important, so you go with your starter, Blackwood, who’s looked better and better as the season has gone on. How about that glove save against Calgary?
Editor’s Note: Imagine I almost published this article without sharing the Avalanche Hometown Remix announcement!
